"There's no doubt that Benelli chief Andrea Merloni and head engineer Riccardo Rosa (who already knows Renault Sport from his days in F1, first as a Ferrari race engineer and then as technical director of the Fondmetal F1 team before switching to bikes in 1993 with the Cagiva 500cc GP team) will draw on Renault Sport's technical expertise in developing the Tornado 900 three-cylinder Superbike, and the future range of motorcycles of other types which Benelli is already planning. And with Ford pumping a rumored $15 million into the Harley-Davidson factory race operation-including the H-D AMA Superbike team-in order to promote its best-selling light-truck line to Harley owners, expect a comparable investment by Renault in the Benelli race effort when the Italian triple hits the tracks in 2002, perhaps even acting as lead sponsor. This could be the start of a significant commercial relationship, especially given the financial clout, commercial success and industrial expertise of the Merloni family's home-appliance empire in Europe."